Lord Haslam - formerly Sir Robert and always Bob to his many colleagues - was a giant of British industry. Widely acclaimed by business and political leaders, he had a remarkable record of reaching the top of the management ladder and staying there. Completing his memoirs while dying from cancer, he tells a compelling business story of the unexpected. Though without academic brilliance or burning ambition, he was singled out as a high-flyer, rising to the top triumvirate of ICI, in its heyday as Britain's leading blue chip company. He exposes heart-searching decision-taking for multi-million pound projects, precariously balancing risks and rewards. His humour always breaks through. Asked how he chaired at the same time the two contrasting businesses of sugar and steel, he disarmingly replied: 'With difficulty'. New light is cast on reorganizing of the coal industry after the bitter year-long strike. It was his biggest challenge, taking over from the tetchy Ian MacGregor and sidelining militant union leader Arthur Scargill. Contrary to conventional wisdom, he makes a convincing case for the resurgence of coal in Britain.
There are negotiations with prime ministers and secretaries of state and trenchant views on the euro and energy policy, complete the potent mix of "An Industrial Cocktail" with the author's posthumous invitation: 'Try it for taste'.
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Höhe: 234 mm
Breite: 156 mm
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978-0-7090-7059-7 (9780709070597)
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Schweitzer Klassifikation
Lord Haslam was born in Bolton in 1923 and graduated from Birmingham University with a first-class mining degree. He started work at Manchester Collieries and in 1947 was recruited by ICI's Nobel Division, the beginning of a global career spanning thirty-three years with Britain's biggest industrial company. He later became a deputy chairman at ICI and moved on to be chairman of Tate & Lyle and British Steel as well as spending five years as British Coal chairman up to 1990. Lord Haslam was also on the Court of the Bank of England from 1985-93 and an advisory director of Unilever PLC at around the same time. In semi-retirement he was chairman of Bechtel Ltd and Wasserstein Perella. His first wife, Joyce, died in 1995 and he died in November 2002. Lord Haslam is survived by his second wife, Elizabeth.
